He teaches it.
He tries to live it.
Thankfully, though, there’s one passage — at least with his poetic interpretation — that Carl Blanton simply Euro stepped right on past like it was a flat-footed defender.
Left in his wake was 1 Corinthians 13:11:
“When I was a child I (spoke) as a child, I understood as a child; I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
As for Blanton’s childhood thought:
“I remember when I was 10 years old, I was walking home from Princeton Park, where we used to go all the time.
“And I remember hearing something in my mind. I think it came from seeing the youth workers there — people like Mr. Sandy and Mr. Randy — they ran Princeton at the time and worked at the pool.
“Those guys were an inspiration. I remember their discipline and correction and the help they used to give to me.”
And even though he was 10, he said he remembers saying:
“One day I’m gonna give back to the youth.”
Today, after decades of pain, some heartbreak, ongoing depression and lots of roll-up-your sleeves blue-collar work, Blanton has made good on that long-ago thought.
- He’s an ordained minister who mentors youth at First Deliverance Church of God in Christ on Turner Road. He and his wife, Sharita, assist pastor Dr. Terence O. Hayes Sr, by working primarily with the church’s youth ministry.
He concentrates on the teenagers; she the younger kids. There are Bible studies during the week and special sessions on Sunday. At times, Blanton said he’s given the sermon.
- He now what he called a “social emotional learning coach” at Empower to Elevate Mental Health, a newly opened facility in Clayton that services Montgomery County schools and concentrates on troubled youth. He assists teachers in their classrooms.
- He’s best known this basketball season as the first-year head coach of one of the best teams in the region — the 22-2 Trotwood Madison Rams — who Tuesday night at Centerville High completely overwhelmed Piqua, 79-22, in the Division III Southwest District semifinal that wasn’t that close.
The Rams led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter and 51-3 at the half.
Even though he once was a hoops star himself at Trotwood-Madison, Blanton said being the head coach at his alma mater is “an amazing feeling” that’s “surreal” sometimes.
“I’ve got to pinch myself sometimes to understand that I’m back and in the position I’m in.”
In 1991 — when he was a 6-foot-6, 215-pound presence on the court ― he had another pinch himself moment, but that one felt anything but amazing.
“He was the Most Valuable Player of the GMVC (Greater Miami Valley Conference),” said Michael Carter, then the Trotwood-Madison head coach and now an administrator at Sinclair Community College. “But then he got that blood clot.”
Blanton recalled the incident:
“We were playing Cincinnati Woodward and I dove on the floor for a loose ball. Another guy dove too and he kneed me in the calf.
“At first I thought it was just a bruise, but it kept getting worse. As we’re getting ready to go to the tournament, I went to the hospital and after some tests, they told me I had a DVT — a deep vein thrombosis. I had a blood clot in my leg.
“They put me in blood thinners and I wasn’t cleared to play for eight months. Truthfully, I still deal with it today.”
Although he returned to action as a senior, he said he no longer had the lift he once had: “I couldn’t do a lot of things and there was the pain from it.”
It affected his outlook and his disillusionment spread to his studies. He said late in his senior season Carter cut him from the team.
“I was ineligible and he was holding me accountable,” Blanton said. “He wanted me to understand what was at stake. He turned it into an opportunity for me to grow as a young man.”
He did end up at Southern University, but leg issues limited his capabilities and after one season he left. He tried to play at a Colorado college, but never was medically cleared he said.
“I felt lost,” he said “Basketball was my life and now I couldn’t play basketball. That led to some real depression.”
He said it took him years to sort things.
“I think the best teacher in life is pain and Carl’s had some pain in his life,” said former Trotwood-Madison coach Rocky Rockhold. “But he’s done a great job of turning that around and impacting others with the lessons he learned.”
‘Life skills through the sport’
Before he got into coaching some eight years ago, the 49-year-old Blanton said he worked a variety of jobs: “Fast food, factories, 14 years at a hazardous waste management plant.”
He and his then-wife had four children. His heart issues never went away completely, nor did the depression and his marriage ended in divorce.
A good man deserves some good fortune and that happened eight years ago as he read the faith and basketball book of Baylor coach Scott Drew.
He thought he could dovetail those same two passions and asked Rockhold about joining the Trotwood program.
“That was an easy pick up for me,” Rockhold said. “Carl has a real passion for help kids. He embraced our style of basketball and he really wanted to learn all facets of the job.”
Blanton started out as the eighth-grade coach and immediately made an impact with the kids.
“I taught them basketball, but I try to teach life skills through the sport, too,” he said. “That’s what’s most important.”
And yet there was still some pain he’d have to endure. It came at the end of a 2019 football game between Trotwood-Madison and Northmont,
His son, Carl Jr. — a two-way player for Rams football team who also had been a starter on the state championship basketball team the year before — suddenly collapsed in full cardiac arrest on the field after the game ended.
Blanton was in the stands and watched medical personnel bring his son back to life.
The lessons that came from that sobering moment and the relief when his son recovered and later went on to play collegiately in Arizona have all added to the way he deals with young people as a coach and minister.
He is remarried now, his four children are grown and doing well, and he has found is true purpose in life.
He worked his way up the ladder at Trotwood and became Rockhold’s assistant.
And when Rockhold retired and Pete Pullen took over the job, Blanton remained in the wings.
“Carl exemplifies the right way to do things and in our city now we need more positive men role models for these kids,” said Trotwood-Madison Superintendent Marlon Howard.
It is that kind of reputation, along with the support of many in the Trotwood community — including former coaches like Carter and Rockhold — that provided a groundswell of support for Blanton to get the head coaching job after Pullen retired following last season.
‘He’s doing an outstanding job’
The Rams have four seniors this season: 6-foot-8, 315-pound center Jermiel Atkins, 6-3 forwards Baron White and Xavier Millerton and 5-foot-9 point guard Giovannis “G.O.” Barber,
All four are headed to college next season, three as football players.
Atkins, a much sought after offensive tackle, chose Kentucky. White is bound for Youngstown State and Millerton for Ohio Dominican. Barber has a few junior college basketball offers.
The team’s only losses this season came to Chaminade Julienne in the third game of the season and Reynoldsburg in mid-December.
Since then, they’ve won 15 games in a row and Blanton has earned the praise of many.
Howard said, “He’s doing an outstanding job” and Rockhold and Carter were just as effusive.
As he left the gym, Blanton was asked what could be drawn from a lopsided night like this had been.
“We just wanted to make sure we made a statement,” he said. “We’re here — and we’re comin’.”
That’s not a biblical verse, but it does sound like a passage from Blanton’s personal saga.
While it took him awhile to get there in everyday life, on the basketball court — with their pressing, double-teaming, in-your-face defense — his team gets there pretty quickly.
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